Category: Encouragement For The Downcast

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears toward their cry. ~ Psalms 34:15

Do you sometimes feel like you are all alone in the world? Like no one sees you? Like no one hears you? Like there is no one you can turn to? Well, lift up your head and straighten up your back; there is good news. The LORD God said in His Word, “My eyes are towards the righteous.” In other words, He sees you right where you are. He sees what is being done to you, and He is taking note.

Then He goes on to say that His ears are toward their cry. Meaning, He hears you when you call to Him. Your prayers that you think are just going up and bouncing off of the ceiling, well, to put it bluntly, they are not. They are reaching the very ears of God. Not just the throne but the ears. Because your letters can reach the White House, you know, they could even reach the Oval Office, but they could stop right there and never reach the ears of the President. So close, but yet so far.

But the righteous are not like that; their ways are known to God. Their being is always before Him; their prayers and their cries are always heard by the LORD. There is not one prayer, one cry, or one moment of your life that your God is unaware of if you are a Christian following Jesus.

Verse 8 of the same Psalm says:

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Psalms 34:8

It is an invitation to come and test the LORD and see if He is not all that He said He is. You will be blessed and highly favored. Come to the LORD, taste, and see that God is good and that He loves you and cares for you. He hears your cries, and He sees you where you are at. So, the next time you feel down, remember you are never alone.

Father, we come in the name of Jesus, Your son, calling out to You. Provide our needs. Provide what is lacking in our lives. Touch our body and heal us, for by Your stripes, we are healed. It has been paid for. Calm our troubled minds so that depression, anxiety, or panic attacks may not come upon us. Help us to find strength in Your joy. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, ¹¹ that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. ~ Philippians 3:8-11

Today is Resurrection Sunday. The day Jesus rose from the dead with healing in His wings and salvation in His hand. He will give that free gift of salvation to whomsoever will come. If you’re thirsty, come. If you’re lonely, come. If you need healing, come. If you need freedom from tormenting spirits, come.

Whatsoever you need, come, and you will find it in Jesus. Is your marriage broken? Give it to Jesus. Are your loved ones strung out on drugs? Give it to Jesus. Is your spouse an alcoholic and despises church? Give it to Jesus. His hand has not shortened that He cannot save. Whatever your need is, come, and Jesus will meet that need. Maybe you’ve been having dreams about Jesus and His salvation; here’s what you do. Repent of your sins and ask Jesus into your heart. If you are saved, thank Him for His salvation and follow Him with everything that’s within you. There’s nothing like dwelling in the presence of God. Give Him all of your pain and stress, and He will take it from you and give you peace in return.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Cling To The Promise of His Resurrection.

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⁵ And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. ⁶ And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.” ~ Mark 16:5-6

The angel said to the women, “Do not be alarmed.” In other words, don’t be afraid. Don’t worry; Jesus has everything worked out for you. Just trust in what He said. The just shall walk by faith. Then the angel says these beautiful words, “He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.”

Jesus is alive! He was crucified. He died and was buried. But on the 3^rd day, He rose to life again. The resurrection power was in Him, and He stepped out of that grave victorious. The grave could not hold Him, death could not keep Him, for in Him is the life and the light, and darkness can never prevail over Him. He is the everlasting God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Encouraged By His Victory.

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⁴¹As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it ⁴²and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. ⁴⁴They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” ~ Luke 19:41-44

All of this is happening on the first day of the week, a Sunday. It is the tenth day of Nisan. The High Priest is selecting the Passover lamb that will be slain on the 14^th. Now all of this is interrupted by the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. They were busy with the requirements of the law as it pertained to the instructions for the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They were doing all the right things at the right time, but they did not recognize the day of their visitation. The day when God Himself would visit them, and they would have the choice to receive Him.

It was like when Jesus told Martha that she was anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing was necessary, and Mary had chosen the good portion, and it would not be taken away from her. It was Mary’s day of visitation. Like Mary, we must be vigilant; we must watch and pray so that we will not miss the Day of Our Visitation.

We cannot get so busy, even with church stuff, that we miss The Day of Visitation.

The day that the LORD Himself shows up on our own front door
Or show up in time of worship
Or when He comes to answer our diligent prayers
We must keep vigil

If the Jews had only recognized their Messiah, and if they had only chosen and accepted Him, they wouldn’t still be wandering the earth looking for their Messiah. Maybe they would have remained and not been scattered. Maybe their Temple would have remained and not been torn down. We have to be sure we don’t miss the visitation of our LORD.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare For More Visitations.

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³⁷ As He was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, ³⁸ saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” ³⁹ And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” ⁴⁰ He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” ~ Luke 19:37-40

Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, on His way down from the Mount of Olives, when the Pharisees tried to condemn the disciples of Jesus to Jesus Himself. The book Revelation refers to Satan as the accuser of the brethren. In fact, it goes as far as to say that he accuses the Church day and night (Revelation 12:10). The Pharisees may not have been Satan himself, but they act on his behalf through the influence of his kingdom. Just as we, the Church, act on Jesus’ behalf with our actions.

Today is no different. You may not even get to your destination or even get to fully begin what you set out to do for God when a Pharisee who has been with you, listening to you, and following you tries to condemn exactly what God has called you to do. Don’t allow them to discourage you; hold to the promise and call you were given. Not everyone listening to you, surrounding you, talking to you, or conversing with you are for you. Be aware of them and seek discernment on how to respond. Jesus didn’t tell them to leave His presence or even rebuke them; Jesus instead corrected their rebuke with the Truth.

Seek the LORD earnestly for discernment, so that you may discern the Spirit of Truth from the Spirit of Error (1 John 4:6). Root yourself in God, and then His call for your life will never be shaken, regardless of who tries to tear down all that you are doing. Don’t condemn, instead correct error with the Truth of our God in love because our God is love (1 John 4:8)

Dead LORD, please give me the Spirit of Discernment so that I might discern between the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error. Please continue to perfect me in Your perfect love so that there will be no room for fear, doubt, or discouragement when the enemy comes against me. Please give me the confidence of who I am in You and what I am to do for Your glory and Your Kingdom. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of His robe filled the temple. ² Above Him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.” ⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. ⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” ⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” ~ Isaiah 6:1-7

Isaiah was 700 years before Jesus came on the scene; nevertheless, the LORD God made a way for an unclean man to enter into His presence. Why? Because the dwelling place of God is with mankind. We weren’t created to be separated from God. We were created to dwell with the LORD, and He is with us always. Isaiah found himself in the presence of the Almighty, and he was afraid he would die because he knew he wasn’t clean, yet God sent one of his Seraphim to stop worshipping and cleanse Isaiah so that Isaiah might remain in the LORD’s presence in all of His glory and wonder.

Today, we still enter the throne room of Almighty God, except when we do, we don’t have a need for Seraphim to cleanse our lips with a living coal; we have the perfect, redeeming, living blood of Jesus Christ covering us. We don’t have to fear entering the throne room of God Almighty and dwelling with Him because Jesus, God Himself, came to earth and redeemed us with something stronger than a coal. He redeemed us with His precious, perfect blood that speaks louder than even that of righteous Abel’s.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Confidently Enter The Throne Room.

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⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. ⁶ My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. ~ Psalms 42:5-6

God doesn’t just send us straight to fight Goliath. He doesn’t just send us straight to face the Nephilim of Canaan. Before we face our biggest giants, first, God gives us the lion, the bear, and all the miracles and wonders of Egypt. In doing this, God builds our faith in Him, but it’s up to us to remember these victories. Right now, throughout the entire world, there are giants popping up everywhere. Giants of fear, rebellion, and darkness. And with each giant, hopelessness begins to spread. We’re becoming like the spies in Canaan instead of like the shepherd boy, David. We’re forgetting the victories God has brought us through, and we’re allowing fear and hopelessness to take over because we’re not even fighting anymore.

During the Let Us Worship movement, led by Sean Feucht, that started in San Francisco, California, with only 400 people and now has spread worldwide. And out of this movement came the spontaneous song, Stone in the Sling, that goes like this:

All I need is a memory
Of Your victory
Like a stone in the sling
Like every time that you’ve fought for me

This is the prayer we should each be praying. We should be seeking a memory of His faithfulness. There are so many victories the LORD has brought us through, each and every one of us; all we need is a memory of these victories to encourage us to stand and fight. To stand up and fight for our countries, freedoms, and our God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remember Past Victories.

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³¹ but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.~ Isaiah 40:31

The strength of the Church is fleeting. We’re tired and weary. It feels like we’re fighting a pointless battle sometimes. Obstacle after obstacle tries to slow us down and bring our run to a halt. And sometimes, our cross just feels too heavy to carry anymore. But here’s the thing, we don’t have to run the race worn out, struggling with all of this stuff.

God promised that if we spend time in His presence, He will renew us. So many of us Church folks are dying of thirst and exhaustion on the race set before us because we’re trying to run in our own strength and stamina. We aren’t strong enough to successfully run this race. We have to rely on God. We have to rely on Christ Jesus. We have to rely on His Holy Spirit. There’s no doing this alone. We’re too weak, but the LORD God is our strength. He is our strong tower. He is our Rock. He is our breath. He is our everything. Spend time with Him, and you won’t be weary or tired in this race we call life.

LORD God, please help me to desire to want to spend time with You. Help me to love You the way You deserve. Help me to be like David, who knew how to come in and go out. Teach me how to be renewed in You, LORD, so that I might hear, well done my good and faithful servant with whom I am well pleased, at the end of my race. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold. ~ Job 42:10-11

Job has one of the hardest stories to grasp in the Bible. He was such a righteous man that he was the wager of God and Satan. Satan is allowed to torment Job and afflict him for a certain amount of time. It wasn’t just superficial things that Satan took from him and afflicted him with. Job lost everything. He lost his children. His fortune. His health. It was so bad that Job’s wife told him to curse God and die. Job’s response is, shall I only accept good from God and not also the bad? Wow. What a response. In spite of it all, Job didn’t lose sight of the God whom he served. And because of this, Job’s reward was double what he had.

I used to think this was the end of Job’s story, but there was more. Job wasn’t an only child. He had siblings. Nevertheless, they didn’t come to him. They didn’t check in on him. They didn’t comfort him. There was no communication between Job and his siblings until after the LORD restored to Job all that he lost and more. So many of us would see that as them using him. I know I sure would feel used, but what if Job’s trial was used by God in order to restore his relationship with his siblings? God takes what the Devil meant for our evil and makes it for our good.

Job’s siblings didn’t just come to him after he was restored. They comforted him and had sympathy for him. Their love for their brother was restored. Not only that, but they also brought gifts for him. Why would they bring gifts? Could it be an apology for the distance? Maybe they were jealous like Cain was of Abel. Maybe they were bereaved by the blessings and favor Job had received from God. Maybe they felt less than around him. The Bible doesn’t say, but we can safely assume there was distance between them. And when God restored Job, He restored his relationships with his siblings as well.

Be encouraged. Lay your desires of reconciliation at the feet of Jesus. Pray for His favor. Pray for His forgiveness. Pray for His restoration.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pray and Watch For Restoration.

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¹² “This is what the Lord says: ‘Your wound is incurable, your injury beyond healing. ¹³ There is no one to plead your cause, no remedy for your sore, no healing for you. ¹⁴ All your allies have forgotten you; they care nothing for you. I have struck you as an enemy would and punished you as would the cruel, because your guilt is so great and your sins so many. ¹⁵ Why do you cry out over your wound, your pain that has no cure? Because of your great guilt and many sins I have done these things to you. ¹⁶ But all who devour you will be devoured; all your enemies will go into exile. Those who plunder you will be plundered; all who make spoil of you I will despoil. ¹⁷ But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the Lord, ‘because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.’ ¹⁸ This is what the Lord says: ‘I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents and have compassion on His dwellings; the city will be rebuilt on her ruins, and the palace will stand in its proper place.’” ~ Jeremiah 30:12-18^NIV

Zion, the city of the LORD, has constantly been attacked through the generations since its establishment. Zion has been trampled, and the Temple no longer stands in its place, yet the LORD says He will have compassion on the city of Zion. He will have compassion on His dwelling. He will restore Zion and heal her wounds. This is just a city, but the LORD will restore it. If the LORD has compassion on His city, how much more will He have compassion on His people in whom He dwells?

The LORD promised us restoration from the days of the disciples and the apostles. Restoration for all that we have gone through, from sickness to torment. For by the wounds of Jesus, we have been healed. The chastisement that brought us peace was upon Him. There is restoration for the Church in Christ Jesus. We don’t have to remain wounded beyond repair, as the world tells us. We don’t have to go through life without peace, constantly tormented as the world tells us is normal. No, we have been restored by the LORD God Himself. He bought our freedom, so don’t dwell in slavery. Claim your healing. Claim your freedom. Claim your restoration.

LORD God, help me to claim my healing that You have purchased for me. Help me to claim my peace of mind that You purchased for me. Help me to claim the peace that You gave me that belongs to You. The peace that is Yours, that the world cannot give and the world cannot take away. Teach me how to be restored in You, LORD God. Help me to be transformed by the renewal of my mind through Your precious and Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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